Call for abstracts

The abstracts will be published in the SA Journal of Oncology with a DOI number.
Before starting the submission process please read carefully through the criteria and conditions below:

Acceptance and presentation of oral presentations and posters require full payment of registration fees for the congress.
Abstracts should be submitted before 24 March 2023. There is no possibility for late abstract submissions.
Authors will be informed of the acceptance of their abstracts by 26 May 2023. Confirmation will also be given as to whether it will be an oral or a poster presentation.
Withdrawal of an abstract: In case you want to withdraw your abstract after submission, please send an e-mail before 24 March 2023 to saco2023@rkcommunication.co.za

Only abstracts submitted via the online platform will be considered to inclusion in the academic programme.
When completing the online abstract submission form, please have your abstract in word format ready to be uploaded. Only abstract that are in line with the structure and guidelines stipulated below will be considered for inclusion in the academic programme.

If you have any difficulty in submitting your abstract online, it is your responsibility to make contact with the congress organisers via e-mail.
Click here to upload your abstract

Two options:
Oral presentation: 10 minutes for presentation (Discussion will take place at the end of the session).

Poster presentation (There will be a poster session during lunch on the Saturday in the exhibition hall).

Guidelines for oral and poster abstract submissions:
Please state whether the abstract should be considered for one of the following academic programmes: Clinical / Radiation Oncology, Medical Oncology, Paediatric Oncology, Gynae Oncology, Radiology, Palliative Care, Radiation Therapy, Medical Physics, Pharmacy, Psycho-social / Social Work & Nursing.

Authors must state whether they wish their presentation to be considered as oral OR poster presentation or whether they would be prepared to do a poster presentation if their oral presentation cannot be accommodated.
Please indicate on the online abstract submission whether you would be prepared to do a poster presentation if your oral presentation cannot be accommodated.
The abstract should not exceed an A4 page and have a maximum of 400 words excluding title in MS Word Format.

All submissions must be in English.

The Academic Committee will make every effort to accommodate all qualified abstracts within the programme. Final determination of the type of presentation to be given and placement within the program will be the responsibility of the Academic Committee.
Papers will only be accepted on the understanding that the main author or a co-author will personally present the paper.
Co-authors must agree with the results stated and have consented to be included as authors.
All participants must disclose any significant financial interest or other relationships they may have with the manufacturers of commercial products discussed in their presentations, panel or written materials.
SACO will take it for granted that good clinical practice is observed in the conduct of all research. This applies especially to clinical studies involving patients and patient care and includes the understanding that the appropriate Ethics committee approval has been secured.

The Congress Organisers, SACO and the SA Journal of Oncology accept no responsibility for copyright infringements.
Acceptance and presentation of oral presentations and posters require full payment of registration fees for the Congress.

Language: Abstracts must be written and presented in English. Careful typing and proofreading are essential. A programme like Grammarly could be helpful https://www.grammarly.com/.
If accepted, the abstract will be published as submitted. Errors, misspellings, incorrect hyphenation, and deviations from the use of correct English will be glaringly apparent in the published abstract. Once the abstract is submitted, changes, corrections or rewording will not be possible.
Images, tables and graphs: Images are not permitted, as they do not reproduce well. Brief and clear tables or graphs are accepted (maximum of 1 page). If the tables / graphs submitted exceed 1 page, those exceeding the limit will be excluded from publication.
Standard abbreviations may be used without definition. Non-standard abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and placed in parentheses after the first use of the word or phrase.
Supplemental materials are not required, but you may provide information sheets to fellow attendees.
References are not required within the abstract.

Registrars / Fellows who want to be considered for the registrar / fellow awards, must clearly indicate this on their online abstract submission form.

Statement 2 on the abstract submission form: By submitting this form , you acknowledge that you qualified within the last two years and the research being presented was commenced during the registrar / fellow time.

If you have not received acknowledgment of receipt of you abstract, please e-mail the organisers again.

Structure of abstract:

TITLE:

• Centre the TITLE in capital letters at the top of the page – use Arial font type (BOLD) and 14 font size.
• Authors should be listed by surname, followed by initials and affiliation (upper & lower case) – underlining the presenting author’s name.
  DO NOT include degrees, titles, institutional appointments or addresses. Do not use abbreviations.

BODY:  (Arial, 12 font size)

OBJECTIVES: State the main question / objective of the study / hypothesis tested

DESIGN & METHOD: Briefly describe the design of the study and how it was conducted, indicating sampling and inclusion criteria, sample size, treatment, duration of observations, etc.

RESULTS: Present the main results with an indication of variability (e.g. SD) and precision of comparison (e.g. 95% confidential intervals) where appropriate.

CONCLUSION: Limit the conclusion to those findings that are directly supported by the results. Implications and generalisations may be outlined briefly.

Do not leave open lines between sections and do not indent headings.

The four sub-headings should not be underlined.

  Guidelines for the preparation of posters:

Click here to download a suggested poster template from the website. It is NOT compulsory to use this template.
Our suggestion would be to make an A0 (118.9 cm x 84.1cm) poster (Portrait style). As this a standard size it is also more cost efficient when printing and laminating the poster.
All posters should be laminated if they need to be used after the congress again. Unlaminated posters might get damaged when being removed from the poster boards. (Do not mount abstracts on heavy board – this does not hang properly.)
Please bring your poster to the congress office upon registration. The organisers are responsible for pasting your poster to the poster boards with double sided tape.
Posters will be displayed from the Friday morning till the Sunday morning. It is the responsibility of the presenter to remove his / her poster(s) after the morning refreshment break on Sunday, 3 September.
Indicate the title of the presentation and its authors.
Use block lettering for other portions of your presentation to add emphasis and easy readability.
Keep illustrative material simple in using charts, graphs, drawings and pictures. Remember that illustrations must be readable from 1 to 2 meters.
Make captions brief, levels few and both clear.
Make posters as self-explanatory as possible.
Do not be overly ornate or artsy (this distracts from impact of your information).
Do not make posters elaborate or costly, although it is necessary for posters to be made professionally.

Poster font sizes
Text on the poster must be readable from a distance of 1 to 2 meters.
The following font sizes work well:

Titles:             72+
Sub-titles:       54+
Text:               30+
Sub-text:        20+

The actual font used can affect the appropriate font size: keep to a standard sans-serif font such as Arial, Helvetica or Trebuchet.

Acknowledgement and notification

As soon as the abstract has been received, the Congress Organisers will send an acknowledgement to the corresponding author.
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 24 March 2023
The Organisers will send notification of the acceptance of your abstract(s) via e-mail by 21 April 2023. Confirmation will also be given as to whether it will be an oral presentation or poster.